TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Creation of a Hexagon]

The progression at the beginning is pretty cool, but the synths sound a tad unpolished and dry. I would suggest reining in the volume levels on the pads a bit and adding some reverb to give it a smoother, atmospheric feel. Otherwise, they take away a bit too much attention from the melodies at :27. I like the quirky drums and the upbeat mood. The transition at :52 was a tad rough, and the contour of the main synth riff there is a bit hard-to-follow and chaotic. The harmonies get a little too busy at 1:06, especially with so many competing rhythmic themes, and overall the arrangement seems a bit thrown-together. The bass-heavy pad at 1:31 is another example of something that’s a little too up-front in the mix, although I like the moving synth line there. Overall, I think the composition is probably the strongest element of the piece, although you might want to consolidate your ideas some more and keep the listener grounded with some more repetition and smoother transitions. All of the mood changes and harmonic shifts of the piece are a little disorienting. Also, the sound design could be a lot cleaner and more varied. With so many similar-sounding 8-bit instruments playing at once, and sometimes in a similar pitch range (like at 1:40), the texture can sound pretty indistinct and bottom-heavy. The volume levels on the pads are a bit too high at some points - you might even be able to solve the balance issues and “indistinct texture” problem at the same time by transposing some of the melodic lines up an octave or two, especially towards the end. Otherwise, I really like the cute mood and percussive elements, and I can tell you have a good sense of harmony too. Better sound design and some more careful structuring will go a long way towards improving your score from me in the future. Keep at it, Glotchalotch! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
5.5/10

glotch responds:

thanks so much for this feedback! i agree that i tend to have problems with cohesiveness and transitions between ideas. it's definitely a challenge for me sometimes to make something that's more than the sum of its parts.

also about your comments about variation in the synths, i can certainly try to do that, but i can't really get a ton of variation in famitracker, because it emulates the real soundchip from an nes.

(for this reason i also can't add reverb to the drums/noise channel without post-processing in a different daw which i want to try to avoid with famitracker projects. although there is an option to import low fidelity samples that i should probably use next time for drums like a lot of famitracker artists do)

i think probably a better solution like you said would be to have less stuff going on at once. thank you so much for this rundown!! i'll carry this with me for future songs.

[Portfolio - Short Main Theme]

I like the graceful flute harmonies at the beginning and the more energetic string lines at :28. The piece has a great sense of gradual climax and a strong melodic flair. The adventurous tone at 1:00 really helped the piece develop further, and it’s around this time that I get a strong sense of just how strong the mixing and mastering of this piece are. Also, you nailed the sound design - the orchestration is very well thought out, and also full of variety. The transition at 2:07 may have been a bit rough, but the percussion helps smooth it over. The ending also sounds a tad inconclusive, but maybe that’s just because you’ve left me wanting a lot more. Overall, fantastic piece, my friend. From the production quality to the composition, sound design to the atmosphere, there’s really not a lot to complain about here. Keep it up! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.75/10

Santi-Montali responds:

Thanks! :)

[Taming A Thunderbird]

I like the mysterious mood at the beginning. The chord progression and synths are a bit generic, but the phasing effects on the pads are a nice touch. The melodies at :28 are nice, but the drums sound really constrained and flat. It might be good to give the drums more space in the EQ, and potentially add some more compression. The mixing could be a tad tighter at times - be careful to avoid reverb on the bass notes and be careful to tighten up the EQ on some of the ancillary instruments. I like the progression and melodies a lot, though. As for the sound design, some of the samples are worth polishing or replacing. The drums in particular strike me as pretty generic. Overall, your composition skills are well-developed, earning you a scout from yours truly. But making your own synths or modifying existing presets more carefully could give you a much more refined sound, and the texture could sound a lot more clean and distinct if you spend more time on mixing and mastering. Keep at it, ElektrikBard! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
6.75/10

ElektrikBard responds:

Thanks for your input! I will be performing this song live with 5 other songs by the end of the month :)

[masked]

The riser at the beginning sounds cool, but also might be a tad out-of-place with nothing else going on there. The piano riff at :08 is also cool, but the sudden changes in the texture at :17 and :19 throw me off a bit. The whooshing effect at :30 also sounds pretty neat, but it distorts the mix a bit. I think you really need to consolidate some of your ideas here. There are a lot of good stand-alone riffs and motifs, but they feel really disjointed from each other, as most of the transitions are very sudden, and the harmonic patterns don’t always interlock super well. Part of the problem may be that the instrumentation is a little all over the place, including some synths that sound both cheesy and harsh (most notably the one at :46). But the bigger problem is that the arrangement needs to be more flowing and cohesive. I’d suggest having more “common elements” that play throughout your piece, like drum riffs, bass lines, or pads. It could also help to foreshadow some of your transitions with things like crashes, sweeps, risers, automation, or volume level changes. Otherwise, the track just ends up sounding like bits and pieces of 5 different tracks that play in succession. Still, again, the individual riffs are cool here. I really like the cutesy melody at :33 and the rhythmic components of the piece throughout. Focusing on the arrangement and flow of the track will be an important next step for you. Feel free to PM me once you feel like you’ve accomplished that with this or another piece of yours. Keep at it, Draggems! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

draggems responds:

Thanks for giving such a detailed review on my crappy first song :D


My music nowadays much better than back then btw

I also use a free software called lmms lol

[Fidelity]

I like the bright strings at the beginning. The fade-in could’ve been a tad more creative, but the orchestral flair of the piece with the mallets and piano works really well, and there’s a good sense of build into the energetic electronic section at 1:00. The production quality is really strong, although the drum part is a bit bland and the piece could use some stronger melodic content to keep me engaged after a while. The most prominent element in the texture is the staccato-y synth lead that’s mostly just outlining the chord progression for 2 minutes. Something more dynamic-sounding would be a welcome change at some point. That said, I enjoyed the cutesy arpeggios at 3:00 and the mellow outro. You clearly have a great sense of harmony and progression, and strong mixing and mastering skills too. The sound design here is also really well done. I think boosting your score from the 8-range to the 9-range would just require a bit more ebb-and-flow in the composition, and maybe a more original harmonic pattern at some point. Until then, keep up the good work, DJ-Cassell! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

DJ-Cassell responds:

Love this! Thank you so much for your inspiring compliments and detailed review. I shall keep in mind your criticism as I produce more music in the future :D

[Fading Hope]

I like the pulsing bass arpeggios and the drums at the beginning. The string samples sound pretty fake, and it throws me off a bit when the beat suddenly cuts off at :41. The more melodic riff at :48 was a nice touch, and I really commend you for having such a creative and dynamic drum part throughout. Compositionally, there’s a lot to like with the piece too. You have a good sense of harmony and progression, and despite a lot of stop-start transitions, the piece flows pretty smoothly throughout. The one major problem I have with the piece is with the sound design. Frankly, the orchestral elements of the piece are very inauthentic, to the extent that you’re probably better off replacing them with instruments that are meant to sound synthetic. My favorite element of the sound design is by far the drums. I also noticed that the mix is a bit dry. I can hear all of the instruments clearly throughout, but I think it would be great if the soaring string riffs or graceful melodies had more reverb or other effects that made the atmosphere sound richer. The ending of the piece is also very sudden. All of that said, the composition really keeps this piece afloat. It’s simultaneously very catchy and melodically beautiful. You’re selling the emotion really well throughout, and the piece feels both well-varied and cohesive, which is something that’s hard to pull off in a piece where the underlying harmonies don’t shift too much. Overall, solid work here, Derp604. But please, find some better string samples! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

derp604 responds:

Thank you so much for this review, this helps a lot.

[Curse of the Cat-acombs]

I like the ominous fade-in at the beginning and the echo-y harp pattern that comes in shortly thereafter. The snare sample is a tad generic, and the intro as a whole drags on for a bit too long without creating much of a sense of progression. The build-up into 1:29 was nice, and the drop was full of variety and some fun sound effects and melodic filler.

The volume levels in this piece are a bit unwieldy at times - right after the first drop (1:57), the main melodic riff comes in at the loudest volume the listener has heard so far in the piece, which seems a bit jarring after the very energetic drop section. Also a little on the loud side was the plucked synth at 2:41. You then double down on the “gradually louder verse/bridge content” theme with the part at 4:06. In theory, these volume level changes were a creative idea, but it actually comes across as a bit cheesy and forced.

By contrast, the echo-y and mysterious repeat of the melodic pattern at 5:01 was really nice. Again, the outro seemed a bit dragged-out, much like the intro, and for a track this long you don’t vary the harmonies of the piece too much. That said, the sound design, rhythmic content at the drops, progression, atmosphere, and mixing are all on the plus side for me. Keep at it, Darkkit10! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8/10

Darkkit10 responds:

Thx

I’ll eventually make a remastered version and fix these things

[House Down]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning and the ominous synth pattern at :11. The snare at :44 is a little loud compared to the synths, and the texture of the piece remains quite minimal throughout. You have a good sense of harmony and progression, but the composition felt a little underdeveloped here. Some stronger melodic content or some more dynamic harmonic elements would help this piece out a lot. That said, I admire your sense of atmosphere, and the production quality here is really strong. Keep at it, BigTWONeli! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
6/10

BigTWONeli responds:

This is the most in depth form of criticism I’ve ever gotten, and I love it! Thanks man I really appreciate the thoroughness